Spotter Radius recommendation

[jollyjack]

What are normal spotter radius settings for single player missions for planes and ground objects?

 

Sometimes they are by default set to -1, off or 20 ...

Edited September 25, 2021 by jollyjack

[IckyATLAS]

I never really understood the underlying mechanism so did not use it until .......... understanding what it is really.

[DD_Friar]

Ok, so I have an idea to use this feature in a mission I am just starting to build.

I was thinking of placing some enemy scout vehicles with a "spotter" radius of 800 m.

My idea is that if the player is "spotted" it will cause enemy units to be activated "in response".

 

I have just tried a simple mission where I spawn in in a Panzer Iv

The Russian scout (BA64) is set to travel on a path towards me.

I sent an event "On Spotting Started" to link to a text message that says "You Have Been Spotted".

I positioned my tank and waited (expecting the message when the scout came within 800 meters of me)

The scout came up to me and even started firing but no message.

 

Any thoughts? Have I misunderstood what a "spotter" for an AI vehicle can do?

 

[JG4_Deciman]

Hi

 

Maybe the 'On Spotting Started' means something different to 'You've been spotted'

 

To check that you could set spotting range to '-1' as default

and use a delay timer to set it to 'your desired spotting range'

making sure that you are in game when the spotting range is changed...

If you see the subtitle then 'On Spotting started' means nothing but 'Object is spotting'...

 

 

But about the spotting range it seems there are some limitations.

You can set any spotting range you want

but the units seem to spot in their own visibility range only...

 

Tried that with trains before.

Range was set to 10000m

but spotting itself was much less than 5000m...

 

Deci

Edited September 28, 2021 by JG4_Deciman

[[DBS]Tx_Tip]

Works as advertised.

 

Put a MCU Timer in the event logic so it runs:

OnSpottingStarted - Timer - Subtitle.

 

There are several MCU's that will not show a Subtitle if there is not a Timer "go between" themselves and the Subtitle. 

Perhaps this is so with certain or all Events as well.

 

Put a timer in between Subtitles as a matter of course and forget about it.

Tip

 

 

[jollyjack]

thanks for the timer tip, Tip ... did not know that!

[Gambit21]

56 minutes ago, jollyjack said:

thanks for the timer tip, Tip ... did not know that!

 

You should ALWAYS use a timer with everything, even if it’s just a 0 sec “node”

 

0 sec nodes give you flexibility to alter/adjust/unplug things non-destructively.

[IckyATLAS]

Okay then, but what is the difference with either a Check Area MCU around the object, and if it is a moving object a Proximity MCU. 

Is the spotting working like a Check Area (but a cylinder or sphere?) but that moves with the object. If yes then it is interesting.

The Proximity is a distance in direct line between two objects both can be moving. Is the spotting working that way?

[JG4_Deciman]

Simply guess...

 

CheckArea (Zone?) of Proximity check the distance between center (Trigger position) and the triggered object

not checking the visibility of the checked object from the center point of the trigger

 

SpottingStarted should (or does?) check the visibility of the checked object.

If its visible by the checking object -> true (triggering)

if not -> false (so not triggering)

 

So as a conclusion:

Objects within range from a center point (checkZone, proximity) will be triggered even if not visible

Objects visible from an object will be triggered by 'Spotting started' if inside spotting range set AND visible

 

Or am I missing something?

 

Deci

[AEthelraedUnraed]

From JimTM's mission editor manual:

Quote

From artillery, ship, train, and vehicle objects. This event occurs if a player-controlled plane enters the spotter radius set in the object advanced properties. Also, a radio message appears in the chat box.

 

This would make it remarkably similar to a CheckZone/Proximity trigger, so you might as well use one of those.

 

What a Spotter does do, is draw a circular area on the map in which all airplanes/vehicles are revealed (drawn on the map).

[DD_Friar]

I can not get it to work for vehicles "spotting" a players tank.

 

If anyone is able to provide a simple sample mission with it working that I can look at, I would be very grateful.

 

Salute

 

DD_Friar

[AEthelraedUnraed]

On 9/30/2021 at 7:25 PM, DD_Friar said:

I can not get it to work for vehicles "spotting" a players tank.

As I said above, I don't think it's meant to be used that way. It's meant to be used when a player vehicle enters the radius of the spotter (the circle in which all vehicles are drawn on the map).

[DD_Friar]

oh ok, not the spotter moving and a fixed circle around that vehicle moving over the player vehicle.

 

So I need to position hidden spotters around the map, which is why the post about spotter being the same as a check zone...

 

I get it now if that is the way it works.

 

Salute

 

DD_Friar

[Imperator_TFD]

On 9/30/2021 at 10:43 PM, AEthelraedUnraed said:

From JimTM's mission editor manual:

 

This would make it remarkably similar to a CheckZone/Proximity trigger, so you might as well use one of those.

 

What a Spotter does do, is draw a circular area on the map in which all airplanes/vehicles are revealed (drawn on the map).

 

I've been experimenting with this and cannot ever seem to find the chat box message that's supposed to be sent.

[JimTM]

35 minutes ago, Imperator_TFD said:

 

I've been experimenting with this and cannot ever seem to find the chat box message that's supposed to be sent.

 

For some clues, see step 2 in the old document linked to in this post. The document content was supposed to be part of the editor manual, but the functionality had stopped working (and started working again after I published).

[Imperator_TFD]

On 10/8/2021 at 12:08 PM, JimTM said:

 

For some clues, see step 2 in the old document linked to in this post. The document content was supposed to be part of the editor manual, but the functionality had stopped working (and started working again after I published).

I had not seen that before so thank you very much.

 

I'm in the process of testing if this function can operate in the MP environment where players use the respawning airfields instead of in a predefined plane.
It would appear it's not possible so far as you obviously cannot link a cover command to a player spawned plane in MP.

Edited October 10, 2021 by Imperator_TFD

[IckyATLAS]

On 10/8/2021 at 3:08 AM, JimTM said:

 

For some clues, see step 2 in the old document linked to in this post. The document content was supposed to be part of the editor manual, but the functionality had stopped working (and started working again after I published).

Excellent now it is all clear for me. I have to see how to make use of this in future missions. 

What is not clear for me is which language  is used in these automatic radio calls with callsigns etc.

 

[IckyATLAS]

It is a pity that the Spotter parameter does not exist for planes. You can use Proximity Trigger, but in terms of mission design it would be cleaner.

[Imperator_TFD]

So I jumped into my dedicated server tonight for the first time after this most recent patch and was welcomed by the following messages from a ground spotter.  This was in a MP Dogfight mission where there is no Guard link between the spotter and the players aircraft.  I have never seen these messages before despite playing in this mission in this specific spotter radius many many times.  Where I'm confused however is that Volcano is not the callsign of the spotter unit in the editor.

 

 

Is it possible there's been a change in the recent patch?